Cathedral pounds Pelahatchie 13-1

PELAHATCHIE — Cathedral High School had a Game 1 that was nearly identical to last week's Game 1 Friday night against Pelahatchie High School.

The Green Wave exploded offensively to win the first game 13-1 in a best-of-three series in the third round of the MHSAA Class 1A South State playoffs. Cathedral (15-7) returns home today for a 2 p.m. matchup.

"It's good we got a win on the road," Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said after the game. "Anytime you take Game 1, it's good, especially on the road. Hopefully we'll play better than we did last Friday and pick up where we left off tonight."

Cathedral beat French Camp Academy last week 12-1 on the road before returning home April 27. But the Green Wave struggled offensively in the next two games of that series, losing Game 2 6-3 before pulling out a 3-0 win in Game 3.

With the Green Wave one win away from a berth in the South State title game, Beesley said it's important for his team not to have another letdown.

"It's the mental side of it," Beesley said. "I don't know if we were really focused last Friday. Hopefully it'll be different and we'll go out there and play focused."

Blake Martin got the win for Cathedral, going five innings and giving up one run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The Green Wave offense tallied 12 hits, including five extra-base hits.

Caleb Upton, Kyle Bradley, Ty Brown and Daniel Huffines all hit double for Cathedral, while Thomas Garrity had a triple. Upton finished 3-for-4, and Martin was 2-for-3 at the plate. Austin Chauvin went 2-for-4 with a home run, and Brown finished 2-for-2.

The game was called after five innings due to the 10-runs-after-five mercy rule. Pelahatchie's one run came in the bottom of the fourth inning.

"I thought we swung the bats well tonight," Beesley said. "Blake did a good job pitching with the lead. He struggled for one inning, but overall he pitched well tonight. We played good defense behind him."

Beesley said the team has a lot of confidence in Martin every time he takes the mound.

"We're confident he'll get ahead in the count," Beesley said. "He throws strikes, and they play good defense behind him."